


Love Wally

by TheWriterWhoNeverWrites



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Love Simon (2018), The Flash - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Coming Out, Crossover, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Love Simon, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-07-31 14:01:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20116255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWriterWhoNeverWrites/pseuds/TheWriterWhoNeverWrites
Summary: Wally West was just your average teenager, except he had one big ass secret***Love Simon Au, you know what this is





	1. The Post (Prologue)

His cursor hovered over the SUBMIT button as he reread the post he had been working on for the thousandth time. Was he making the right decision? Was it worth seeing all his classmates reactions? Even if none of them would know it was him? 

He sighed, pushing away from his desk and allowing himself to roll across the room, head in his hands. It was such a silly thing to worry about, and yet the thoughts racing in his mind wouldn't stop. If he couldn’t come out anonymously to the internet, how did he think he was ever going to be able to come out to the school? His  _ family _ ? And why did he have to care so much in the first place!

The decision to make the post had not been a spur of the moment decision. He had been browsing the internet when he found a post about someone's coming out story. It was completely anonymous, but the girl had spoken about how sure she was she wouldn’t be accepted by the people around her and how surprised she was by the positive response she received. It had gotten him thinking. What if you could  _ test  _ how positive the response to your coming out would be, without anyone knowing? And the idea for the post was born. He had been thinking hard about it for the last week, mentally practicing what he would write whenever he had a spare moment before he had finally worked up the courage to try writing it out tonight. 

He rolled himself back towards his computer, rereading the post one last time. All it needed was a sign off. Something that wouldn’t give him away, wouldn’t be possible for anyone to connect to him unless they really knew him, and even then it wouldn’t be obvious. And then it hit him.

He glanced again at the end of the paragraph before quickly writing out what he thought would be the perfect alias and hit submit before he could give it another thought. The moment the button was pushed he shut his laptop and moved away from his desk, trying not to allow the panic he felt building up take over. He glanced once more at the laptop before taking a breath and starting to leave his room. He’d go do a quick workout, take his mind off of everything and allow himself to relax. Mind made up he grabbed a pair of track pants and headed out the door, mind still replying every word of the post he had written.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short! But i felt that this part made the most sense to be by itself. The rest will be longer


	2. The Trapeze

“Wally! Dude!”

He knew who it was before the door even opened, which was actually pretty impressive with how fast Bart moved. His cousin in question sprinted into the room, tripping over himself as he made his way to where Wally was sitting at his desk. Ever since he had moved in with his aunt and uncle, Bart’s random entrances into his room had become a norm. Despite his wish for privacy he found himself caring less and less. He was possibly starting to  _ enjoy  _ the kid’s presence.

Not that he would ever tell him that. 

“What’s the big news this time?” Wally asked, spinning slightly on his chair to face Bart who had started to take over his bed, “End of the world? New meme?”

“Nope!” Bart said from his spot on the bed, popping the P as he turned his laptop towards Wally, “Kid anonymously came out on G-Net. Post blew up, no one knows who it is but everyone's speculating. Dunno why someone would come out online I mean what’s the point if no one’s going to know its you anyway? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose? Wouldn’t you just want people to know? Or I guess he doesn’t want people to know,but then why d-”

“Dude, slow down. Someone came out on G-net? Anonymously?”

Bart rolled his eyes, “Yes! That’s what I said like 10 seconds ago, keep up slow poke!”

Bart pointed to the screen again, which Wally glanced down at. It was a post that was only about a paragraph long, but already had hundreds of views and tons of comments, which was a lot for a school forum. He scanned the words as he felt his heartbeat a little quicker. He understood Barts confusion of the posters motivation, but it made a lot of sense to him. A test. A practice mode where if everything blows up in your face none of the cons'equences actually hit you. 

Wally scoffed. Must be nice. 

He was just finishing the last sentence when he noticed the sign off. It was...odd. He pointed at it, cutting off Bart who apparently had used his silence to begin a rant about his current chemistry project. 

“What is this? ‘Robin’? What does it mean?”

Unfazed by his unfinished rant Bart glanced back at the screen, 

“No idea hermano, but everyones speculating. Someone said they saw a robin shit on Marvin in 4th grade, but that’s not even the most promising theory”

Wally grinned, he’s forgotten about the famed robin moment, when his mind went back to what his cousin had just said,

“Wait, what the hell is a hermano?”  
Bart's eyes lit up as if he had just been asked the most interesting question in the world, and Wally almost groaned. Whatever it was, he was going to have to brace himself for a whirlwind of information because Bart was prepping for a _spill,_

“Dude! It’s Spanish! Jamie taught it to me, he calls all of his friends ‘hermano’” He started, imitating a terrible spanish accent that made Wally laugh, “but I googled it afterwards and it said it translates to brother? And so I called Jamie right away and was all ‘dude we’re not all related you can’t just call us all brothers’ and he laughed at me! Because apparently it’s more like calling someone your bro, so it can also mean friends! And then we got totalkingmoreaboutspanishandhetoldmethathisnameisactuallyspelledwitha’J’eventhoughpronouncingityousayan’H’and-”  
Smiling slightly at his cousins enthusiasm Wally allowed his excited words to flow over him, taking in the important parts and nodding at appropriate parts. Normally he would try to pay more attention-he really did love his cousin- but he couldn’t stop thinking about The Post, and the kid who had made it. Did he know him? Was that kid as scared as Wally sometimes was? Was it all just a prank that some bully would take responsibility for by the end of the week? Were people responding the way the kid wanted? He looked at it again, reading the words slowly this time,

_ Sometimes it feels like I’m on the trapeze. One moment flying swiftly through the air, not a care in the world, free as a bird. The next the rope is slipping from my fingers and I’m falling to the net below. Over and over again, day after day.  _

_ My life is good. I love my family, I have good friends, but no one knows one big secret.  _

_ I’m Bi. _

_ -Robin  _

It was such a short post, and yet he couldn’t help but let himself re-read it over and over again. It was surreal, seeing something- _someone_ write something that he felt he could have written himself. It was like looking into a weird internet mirror, and it was both terrifying and comforting at the same time. 

Bart must have noticed his attention was elsewhere because the next thing he knew the younger boy was waving his hand in front of his face, green eyes full of mirth

“Hellooooo? Earth to Wally?”

“Huh?” He forced himself to tear his eyes from the screen, looking into the eyes of his cousin, “What?”

“Dude,” Bart said, giving him an odd look, “Why are you so entranced by this thing?”

He felt himself freeze and tired not to let it show, pushing the laptop back towards Bart

“I’m not entranced, just, just curious. It is pretty weird dude.” He spoke quickly, running his hand through his hair and turning his chair so that he was facing his desk. Not looking up he opened a blank word document, hoped Bart wouldn’t look over his shoulder,

“I gotta finish up this paper before school tomorrow, see you at dinner?”  
He didn’t have to look up to see the face Bart was giving him, he knew he wasn’t acting completely natural but there wasn’t much he could do. There was a brief pause where he could almost hear the other thinking ‘uhhhh okkkkayyyy’ before Bart said quietly, 

“Yea, alright” And left the room. 

The moment the door closed he let his head fall onto his desk. Why did he have to be so awkward? Why couldn’t he talk to his younger cousin without fearing he was being analyzed? It was just a post! A post  _ someone else _ wrote coming out. Not. Him. There was no reason for him to be getting this worked up about it, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

His hands moved towards his computer before he could think about it, and in a moment he was on the G-net home screen, Gotham Academy’s own online student network turned twitter page. He only had to scroll for a moment before he saw the post, the circus tent picture on top making it easy to spot. He looked at the post again, eyes tracing the words before he noticed a small box of text beside the sign off. It was a link to the posters G-Net account, which was required to post on the site.

He clicked it, and was unsurprised to come to a completely anonymous page. Obviously if the poster didn’t want anyone to know who they were they wouldn’t just use their main account. There was no information on the page, except an email: Robin37@Gnet.com

He looked at it for a moment before making a decision. Clicking to another tab he opened G-Net again and logged out of his normal account before clicking the  **SignUp ** button in the top left corner. He typed in the first thing he thought of, quickly creating a new email and password before he had access to the new account. Before he could second guess this spontaneous decision he opened a blank email and began to type, copying “Robin’s” email into the recipient box. Taking a breath he went to the  **Subject** box and typed “hey”. 

And then he pushed away from his desk and let his head fall into his hands.

What was he doing? Just messaging a random person who just put their biggest secret online? What was the point? Have a gay penpal? Bond over mutually shared fear and anxiety?

Looking down he could see his foot tapping, up and down up and down up and down. Bright orange hair fell into his face and he sighed. He was over thinking, nothing new. All he was doing was trying to connect to someone that could understand a part of him no one else in his life ever had. No big deal.

He rolled his eyes at himself. Yea. No big deal at all. 

He took a deep breath and turned his chair back towards the computer screen where the typing cursor was blinking over a blank email. He had to stop thinking and just write. Whatever he wrote the worst that could happen is a person he’d never met before could not respond. 

And with that, he began to write.

_ Hello Robin, _

_ I’m just like you. For the most part my life is totally normal. I have people around me who love me and that I call family, and friends that I’m sure would help me hide a dead body if I asked. I have a cousin (who’s basically my sibling) that I actually like, and even a bedroom to myself that I can decorate however I want without being yelled at. _

_ I’m just like you, I have a totally normal life, except I have one huge-ass secret _

_ … _

His mouse danced around the bottom of the page as he tried to think of a sign off. It didn’t have to be anything special, just something that someone who didn’t know him wouldn’t connect to him instantaneously. So basically anything. He thought for a moment longer before he typed,

_ -Kid Flash _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I freaking love writing Bart, hes too great. I possssibly had too much fun with his fast talking but oh well


	3. The Breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Wally and Artemis aren't dating they must be best friends. I don't make the rules.

“WALLY! Better be down soon or breakfast won’t be there anymore!”

Wally looked up from where he was packing his bag on the floor in his room, phone sitting up right on the floor with Artemis’s amused face staring back at him. They both knew Barry wasn’t exaggerating. If Bart was left with the possibility of seconds (or even thirds) he  _ would _ take it, sometimes without even realizing what he was doing. He grinned, shaking his head before yelling,

“I’ll be there in a second!”  
Artemis smirked, also shaking her head from where she was sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal,

“Hurry up Kid Idiot. You’d think you weren’t a track champion with how slow you move in the morning.”

“Track champion five years in a row, actually.” He responded, not looking up from where he was putting his chemistry book in his bag, “And is that anyway to talk to the guy who’s been driving you to school every day for a year? Y’know, I could just  _ happen _ to forget which apartment building you live in and  _accidentally_ drive past your street and just so-”

“ Alright alright!” She relented, hands going up in surrender before quickly coming down to catch the bowl in her lap before it tipped.

They fell into silence for a moment, and Wally stood up and moved across the room towards his desk, looking for the protein synthesis assignment he had finished up at the beginning of the weekend. Silence between the two of them was never awkward, or at least hadn’t been for many many years. It was a comfortable type of quiet, one where you knew the other person felt they didn’t need to say something just as much as you did, but that both of you enjoyed the others presence enough to want to just remain. 

When he got back to his bag and was slipping the page into his binder she was done her cereal, bowl out of sight but spoon still in hand. She tapped the metal utensil against the side of her mouth as she spoke, almost hesitant,

“Did you hear about the post yesterday?”

He felt his body freeze for a second before he continued with the motion of closing his bag, picking up the phone as he stood again,

“Which post?” He asked, feigning interest. Which was difficult of course, since he knew  _ exactly _ which post she was talking about. Not only that, he'd been spending the last 12+ hours checking his new inbox for a reply from "Robin". After about 2 hours of checking last night he'd closed the tab in frustration. But not even 10 minutes later he found himself anxiously typing in the URL again. 

Not that it made a difference, it was always empty. 

“There's no way you haven’t seen it.” She replied as he made his was down the stairs into the kitchen, “The one about the closete-”  
“Oh MORNING BARRY!” Wally blurted out, speaking much louder than he usually would and drowning out the end of Artemis’s sentence. He tried to not let his panic show as all eyes turned toward him. His uncle stood at the stove, spatula in hand and eggs set on a plate beside him. He raised an eyebrow at the noise. Wally could tell he was about to question him when his eyes then moved to the phone in his hand. A smile brightened his face,

“Good morning Artemis!” He said, handing a plate towards Wally as he spoke and waving towards the camera. His earlier confusion seemed to be forgotten. Artemis smiled,

“Morning Mr. Allen!” She replied, thankfully continuing to unintentionally distract from the earlier turn in conversation, “What food are you gracing the speedsters with this lovely Monday morning?”  
Allowing the two of them to distract themselves with discussion of plans for the week, Wally sat down across the table from Bart. His auburn hair was in disarray, un brushed and clearly just out of the shower. Wally dipped his toast in his eggs, watching as the other boy shoved a large chunk of ketchup covered eggs into his mouth as he tapped away at his phone. Half asleep Bart Allen was something you only learned to appreciate if you've lived with him. He was much quieter in the mornings, but he was constantly texting on his phone as if he needed to make up for the lack of verbal words. This was also interesting to watch because Bart was an incredibly talented 1 handed texter.

It was weird sometimes to think about how normal this routine had become, morning with the Allens. After going on four years of almost constantly living with them it was more his home then his actual house had ever been.

The Allens lived close Central bridge, the bridge at the edge of Central city that connected them to Gotham. His parents, on the other hand, lived down town in a small town house. 

Even before high-school Wally spent a lot of time with Barry and Iris. They had been together since he was three, and he couldn’t remember a life before Barry had entered it. Seeing Aunt Iris always meant getting to see "Mr. Barry" -soon uncle Barry- and there was something about the man that had always excited him.

Wally loved science, always had and so when he learned at 7 that Uncle Barry was a special scientist that works with the police? He had been instantly enamoured and had started to beg his parents to let him go to the Allens after school and it quickly became a tradition. At first every Friday of the week he would go to the Allens, then every other day, until- by grade 7- he was going to hang out with Barry Iris and Bart basically everyday. By that point his interest in the family had stemmed far off of just forensic science. There was something about them, just the way they unconditionally loved on him and Bart even though he wasn’t their child, the way they would always insist they ate dinner together, or have a board game night on Wednesdays. There was a warmth there that didn’t exist at his house, and he was addicted to it.

So, when he was offered a chemistry Scholarship to Gotham academy- the private school on the edge of Gotham City- Barry had offered him the spare room. At that point living at home...wasn’t really the best. So he took up the offer and had been staying there ever since. Four school years with the Allens, three Christmases, hundreds of Barry’s morning breakfasts. They were his family more than his parents were, not that he’d ever told anyone that. It felt wrong somehow. Like he was betraying someone or something he'd never really felt connected to anyway.

He was yanked out of his thoughts by his phone buzzing and he quickly grabbed it. Ignoring Artemis yelp at suddenly having his nostril shoved into the front of the camera he looked at the notification:

**G-Net: ** [ **Robin37@Gnet.com** ](mailto:Robin37@Gnet.com) ** reply, RE: hey, “Hi Kidflash…”**

Shoving himself away from the table (while holding his phone at an unreadable distance from everyone in the room), he rushed towards the door, pulling his backpack behind him,

“Well, I’m leaving now! See you in ten Artemis.”

He hung up the phone without waiting for a response and was out of the kitchen in a second, not giving Barry the chance to question his sudden exit. He was about to pull open the front door before there was a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Iris behind him. He hadn’t even noticed her enter the kitchen and he jumped slightly in surprise.

“Slow down there Kid Flash.” She said with a grin, using the nickname he’d been stuck with since his first track meet,

“You haven’t even finished you breakfast.”

He glanced at the half finished egg on the table, before his thoughts drifted back to his phone and the email he knew was there. The curiosity was eating at him, and he wanted to read it before he picked up Artemis. She would know instantly if something was up with him, so he knew he couldn’t wait.

Shaking his head he put a smile on his face and ignored the rumble of his stomach,

“I’m not very hungry this morning. Thanks for breakfast Barry!”

And he sprinted out the door, ignoring the concerned look Iris gave to his back.

*

A reply was not exactly what he had been expecting. Confusion from his peers? Yes. Speculation and wild rumours? Definitely. Possible regret at ever posting the thing in the first place? Potentially, that was yet to be seen. 

But a reply? Hadn't even crossed his mind as a possibility. Sure, he knew his account was attached to an email (a fake one he'd made just for the post of course), but it just hadn't occurred to him that someone would be interested enough to start a dialogue about it. 

Now that he thought about it, it might not be a friendly reply. There were all sorts of bigots and homophobes and idiots, particularly at Gotham academy. Unfortunately, wealth and privilege made you more likely to be a bigot. The subject of the email was "hey" though, and that didn't seem particularly threatening. 

Walking through the front foyer he glanced around. Somehow no one from his family was around, a relatively large miracle for his family, so he moved into one of the smaller living rooms in the house and sat on one of the couches at the back. He brought knees to his chest and leaned back against leather. He squirmed a bit, trying to find a comfortable position. It still baffled him sometimes how someone could spend so much money on a couch and it still end up being so uncomfortable. 

Giving up, he glanced at the email unopened on his screen, considering his options. Curiosity winning out over the idea of protecting himself from potential homophobia he opened the email.

It was...not what he expected. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not actually sure about whether or not I'll continue having little tidbits of "Robins" perspective. Half of me likes it and the other half of me thinks it kinda awkward. We shall see.


	4. The Response

The walk/sprint to the car felt like it took ages, but when he finally got into the vehicle he didn’t make a move towards his phone. It felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket, sitting there with a response that could have anything in it. Could be a “Screw off”, an awkward “why did you even message me” or, Wally could be incredibly lucky and it might be a kind response.

Logically if the person didn’t want to talk about it they would have just not emailed back. Emails were easily ignored; no way for the sender to see that you’ve read it, no  _ dot dot dot  _ bubble if you attempted a reply. Easily ignored, deleted, and forgotten about.

It was with this in mind that he was able to screw up the courage to look at the email. The notification looked the same as it had before:  **G-Net: ** [ **Robin37@Gnet.com** ](mailto:Robin37@Gnet.com) ** reply, RE: hey, "Hi Kidflash...” ** and he gave himself a second to take a breath before he opened it. Similar to the original post it was relatively short, but only a couple lines in he was already smiling.

_ Hi Kidflash, _

_ Is your secret the same as mine? Or something completely different? I have to admit it would be quite amusing to me if you took the time to send an email to a complete stranger about a random secret. _

_ Are you a murderer? Did you steal your mom’s keys? Cheat on a test recently? Try to do a backflip off of a chandelier only for it to fall to the ground and smash into a million pieces as you barely managed to jump back to the railing and hope your dad doesn’t notice? (That one might just be me).  _

_I'm going to assume you’re a normal individual and that it is the same as mine. in which case, does anyone know?__  
_ _\- Robin_

He read the note again, then again. It was so casual, so much different than anything he'd been expecting. He had honestly thought he would read the response and then delete the email and not respond. But there was something about Robin that made him want to answer. There was just a confidence in the words that made him feel instantly comfortable with him.

He paused, technically he didn't know Robin was a guy. It was a pretty gender neutral name, and it wasn't like girls couldn't be bi. So "they" it was for now. But what he really couldn't stop thinking about was the middle of the message. Back flips? Off of  _ chandeliers? _

He'd almost forgotten he went to a rich kid private school. This kid surely wasn't a scholarship kid, especially if he had a chandelier high enough to  _ back flip _ off of. It was definitely weird to think about. 

A  **BANG ** on the window forced him out of his thoughts and made him jump as he hit his head off of his head rest, groaning. He glared out the window where Bart was smirking at him, Barry walking past him towards the van. 

Since Bart still went to the grade school in Central City and Barry worked at the police station nearby, Barry took Bart to school and him and Iris let Wally take their car to school. Some mornings he would take Iris to work first, but on warmer mornings like this one she usually chose to bike.

He looked at his cousin for a moment, who was speaking rapidly to Barry while leaning against his window. Realizing his chance for revenge he quickly rolled the window down, laughing when Bart slipped and almost fell into the car, 

"HEY!" Bart yelped, barely managing to catch himself on the side of the door, landing with a huff.

"Payback man," Wally said, shrugging his shoulders with an innocent smile, "You started it."

A pout crossed Barts features as he allowed himself to collapse dramatically into the window. His hair fell against Wally’s thigh as he lifted his head, puppy eyes on full force,

"It’s not  _ my fault _ that you were so perfectly distracted." He responded, dragging out the last word into a whine, "What are you grinning at your phone about anyways? Talking to a girl????"

Wally felt his cheeks go red (a curse of being pale redhead) as he subconsciously pushed his phone against his chest. He was suddenly hyper aware of the fact that the message from Robin was still open,

"No, no!" Wally sputtered, knowing he didn't sound convincing even though he  _ wasn't lying, _ "Dude, it's just Artemis."

"Is it now." Bart drawled, raising an eyebrow, "let me see then!" He started reaching for his phone and Wally panicked, shoving his phone into his bag

"No! Bart, stop!" He said, "It's none of your business."

Apparently sensing Wally’s seriousness Bart backed off, hands up in mock surrender. Then, in a moment he had turned and started running towards Barry,

"DAD!! WALLY HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!"

"Does he now?" 

Wally groaned and let his head fall into the steering wheel, too exasperated to enjoy how Bart jumped when the horn sounded.

*

When he had finally made it to Artemis's apartment building she was been sitting on the front step, backpack beside her. She was also starring quite pointedly at her wrist, on which she had no watch, but Wally got the point,

"Ten minutes my ass!"

He let her complaints pass over him as she got into the car (always the front seat, she had permanent shotgun rights) not even bothering to defend himself because he knew she was right. They soon fell into normal conversation as he made his way to Conners house, speeding slightly to ensure that they wouldn’t be late for first period. 

Wally took the left that brought them onto Conner's street and, like every time he drove in this neighbourhood, couldn’t help but be astonished.

While Artemis’s apartment was on the edge of Gotham, directly after the bridge, Conners house was slightly more in the suburbs. His family was the closest Wally had ever seen to the perfect “white picket fence family” in his entire life. A mom and dad who were super supportive and always around to help, adorable younger brother, a Ma and Pa who came around every weekend with freshly baked pies, and an  _ actual white fence in the front yard.  _

When he had first become friends with Conner in 3rd grade the perfection of his life had made Wally jealous. He wanted to have parents who asked him about his day every night, or who noticed when he was upset about a test mark, or who bothered him about stupid things just for the sake of teasing. Of course, Conner said those things drove him nuts, and the Allens were much better about those types of things then his parents had been. It didn’t bother him much anymore (especially since he’d been invited to biweekly pie with the Kents) though sometimes he’d still get that gnawing feeling when he saw Clark give Conner a tight hug before school, or Lois gave him a peck on the cheek (which he always whipped off right away as she laughed at him).

With Conner in the back seat he started the car up again and pulled out of the driveway, waving towards where Lois and Jon were waving from from front porch. Conner was usually pretty quiet in the mornings, so the car was silent as they made their way down the road to the final stop, M’ganns house.

M’gann was new to the friend group. While the rest of them had been close since third grade, they had only met M’gann at the beginning of the school year. She was a bright, bubbly redhead who Conner had met through her joining the cheer squad, since he was a quarterback. He had brought her to their lunch table on her second week of school and she had meshed right into their little group. It meant they all had to get up slightly earlier to get to school on time, but being friends with her made it worth it.

Artemis and Wally had debated several times on several occasions how long it would take Conner and her to get together, but so far neither of them had made a move. It was nearing October, so it had been two months at this point, and  _ still  _ nothing had happened.

(Wally was betting on a Christmas Miracle, but Artemis said they were too thick for that and wouldn't put it together until Valentine's day.)

Despite this, when M’gann got into the back seat Conner suddenly brightened up and was pulled into quiet, enthusiastic small talk for the morning.

Luckily for them traffic was quick that morning, and they managed to slip into the Gotham Academy Student parking lot with five minutes to spare. As soon as they had stopped M’gann rushed out of the car, speaking quickly about a cooking class she wanted to be early for. Conner followed close behind with the books she had forgotten in the car.

With the car quiet again, Wally reached into the backseat, grabbing his backpack from off of the floor and wrestling through it for his phone. After a couple seconds of digging he pulled it out, when he noticed Artemis staring at him. He paused,

“What?” He asked

She continued staring for a moment, not responding right away. It was as if she was looking for something in his face. Something she wasn’t finding

“You were quiet this morning,” She said finally, speaking slowly, “is something wrong?”

Sometimes he marveled at how well the blonde knew him. Sometimes he felt as if he had a giant “SOMETHING IS BOTHERING WALLY” sign on his head with how quickly she would catch on to his moods.

The worst part was, normally she was right. And  _ normally  _ he would tell her what was wrong, and they would talk about it, and it would make him feel alot better.

But this? The thought of explaining everything to her, of coming out, wasn’t one he could handle. He had planned to do it many times, imagined how it would go down even more, but he could never bring himself to. It wasn’t so much that he thought she would react badly, but more so that he had no idea how she would react and that scared him.  _ Terrified  _ him.

So instead he plastered a smile onto his face and ran a hand through his hair, hoping he looked at least slightly up beat,

“Nothing’s wrong Art, just a bit tired. But it’s so nice that you were thinking of me,” He drawled, allowing himself to fall easily into their normal banter, leaning forwards to grasp her hand “You’re really too sweet  _ babe." _

He laughed as she scowled, pulling her hand out of his and hitting him across the arm. Flirt-banter was easy with Artemis, and was part of the reason that A: everyone thought that they were dating, and B: no one had ever asked Wally if he was gay. He hadn't started it intentionally. 10 year old Wally  _ had  _ thought he had a crush on her. She was cool, his best friend, and girl, which according to everyone else in his life was all you needed to have a crush on someone. So he decided that he did, and there began the beginning of his awful flirting. 

Granted after a month or so he realized he definitely did  **not** have a crush on her and that she was just a really awesome best friend who happened to be a girl. But the flirting became a fun, silly part of their relationship that they both enjoyed but never took seriously.

After he had stopped laughing her glare had softened and he found her still staring at him. Still looking concerned. He was about to defend himself a second time, turn up the flirting as a distraction when she said,

"Ok. It’s okay. But...you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" 

Her voice was serious in a way it hadn't been before and all thoughts of his cheesie pick up lines left his mind. He gave her a genuine smile,

"Of course."

Looking satisfied she turned her attention to the back pack at her feet, shoving her phone into the front pocket and turning towards the door,

"Alright Baywatch, let's go." 

He waved her off, not ready to give up his chance to be alone for a moment,

"I'll meet you inside, I want to look over my assignment one more time." 

"Suit yourself!" She said with a shrug, pushing the car door open and she slipped her bag onto her shoulders, 

"See you in hell!" 

The door shut behind her and he let out a breath. Finally, he was alone. 

He pulled out his phone and went straight to his new email account, reading over Robins message again. He wanted to respond before he got into school and completely lost his nerve. The entire drive he had been thinking about all the reasons he shouldn’t respond, the ways it was weird, ways Robin would inevitably find him annoying, hate him, or worse: discover who he was. 

But he wanted to answer. He really  _ really _ wanted to. For some reason it just felt right. He didn’t even know who this kid was but he wanted to get to know them. So, he promised himself he would write and send a response before he got out of the car. 

He looked down at his phone and started to type: 

_ Dear Robin, _

_ Sorry, my secret isn’t as exciting as all that, which is probably a good thing because I think my Aunt would be incredibly disappointed in me if she thought I had done any of the above (especially the cheating).  _

_ However, my secret is not exactly the same as yours. _

_ I’m not Bi. I’m gay. _

_ God that feels weird. I’m gay. _

_ I hope I haven’t bored you with my lack of exciting secret, but I can tell you an odd story to make up for it: _

_ In 5th grade, my best friend was so startled by our teachers cat sneezing that she shot her entire tube of yogurt into my hair, and from that day on (until I changed schools at least) I was known as Yogurt Boy. _

_ Oh, to answer your question, I’ve never told anyone. Well, no one except you now I guess. Congratulations on being the first person I’ve come out to. This isn’t terrifying at all. _

_ -Yogurt Boy _

_ P.S. I was going to leave it alone but I can’t. You did a backflip off of a chandelier!? And didn’t die from either the impact OR your parents wrath?! My mom would have killed me. Please Explain. _

Satisfied with his response he sent the message and put his phone back in his bag. Now, the agonizing wait of hoping Robin would continue to respond began again.


End file.
